Devices to hold items such as paper currency, credit cards, drivers licenses etc. have been employed in many variations such as basic enlarged paper clips and standard binder clips which have foldable arms, all of which are well known. Advances in the art include money clips with retractable operating levers which are described in McGarity U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,946,778 and 6,988,296. Money clips with operating levers were a major advancement in that they allowed the clip to be easily and conveniently opened by squeezing the extended operating levers together and then retracting the levers to positions so that they are out of the way when not in use.
Since money clips with extendable and retractable levers include multiple slidable parts, they require precise manufacturing of the individual parts of the money clip and also require detailed and time-consuming assembly in order to produce an attractive and reliable clip. At times, excessive force is applied by a user when withdrawing the levers which can cause the levers to separate from the body of the clip.